VoIP Coming to the Palm OS

Posted By: Ryan Monday, March 6, 2006 10:56:48 AM

The MantraGroup is currently working on a mobile Voice over IP (VOIP) solution for the Palm OS. Their product, mobiVoIP, is currently undergoing a closed beta trial. When ready, mobiVoIP will enable many Palm OS devices to make voice calls over the Internet from a wirelessly connected handheld.

VOIP for Palm OSVoIP, or Voice Over IP (pronounced 'voyp'), is a new technology that lets you make phone calls over the Internet. When you make a VoIP phone call, you use a normal touch-tone telephone and dial the normal phone number just as you would any other time. The people on the other end (usually) can't tell that whether you are calling from a traditional telephone or a VoIP phone. The main difference is that the phone call travels over the Internet rather than through the local phone company's wires. mobiVoip takes it to next step allowing you to use your PDA and make VoIP calls.

The MantraGroup is currently working on stabilizing the product and adding additional features for mobiVoIP including background operation. A list of currently implimented features can be found here. The company has not yet announced a release date or pricing info. TamsPalm has a short report posted about the beta.

Thanks to Gaurav for the tip.

mobiVOIP for the Palm OS screenshot

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Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...

Surur @ 3/6/2006 3:52:27 PM # Q

... and decided to leave microphones out of their most popular new PDA's.

Surur

They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...

RE: Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...
hkklife @ 3/6/2006 3:58:29 PM # Q
Yup. The best non-Treo choices for VOIP on recent Palms are nearly 3-year old T|Cs and T3s, peeling, underpowered Zire 72s and the laggy/buggy LifeDrive.

As I said ages ago, Palm should've released a T|C2 with a replacable battery, wi-fi/Bluetooth and pushed as a "do it yourself VOIP" alternative to contract/carrier/cellular-based Treos. That way Palm could profit no matter which route a user chose to go. That kind of renegade, outside the box thinking could really have turned some heads in Palm's favor. Instead they've chosen to just die a slow death by trickling out ho-hum retreads.


Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

RE: Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...
epp_b @ 3/6/2006 4:12:37 PM # Q
Ah, but I forsee a market of modding Palms to include microphones (or even better: 3.5mm microphone jacks)

if (!$broke) {
DontFixIt()
}
RE: Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...
legodude522 @ 3/6/2006 4:50:15 PM # Q
Dmitry Grinberg owns the rights to his T|X mic mod.

Palm m125 December 25, 2002 to March 24 2004 > palmOne Zire 71 March 24, 2004 to March 31, 2005. Tapwave Zodiac 1 April 18, 2005 to November 2, 2005 > palmOne Zire 72 November 2, 2005 to present
RE: Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...
ChiA @ 3/6/2006 6:20:56 PM # Q
surur said:
...decided to leave microphones out of their most popular new PDAs.

and wifi from its PalmOS smartphones!

"It is commonly said, and more particularly by Lord Shaftesbury, that ridicule is the best test of truth".
Lord Chesterfield
RE: Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...
Surur @ 3/6/2006 6:28:38 PM # Q
and wifi from its PalmOS smartphones!

I could have said that, but Skype actually works quite well over EVDO on the Treo 700w, so this app may actually work on the 700p (which I sincerely hope does have a microphone ;) )

Surur

They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...

RE: Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...
twrock @ 3/6/2006 6:41:57 PM # Q
Yep, very short-sighted of Palm to leave out a $0.50 mic. But the good news is that building an external VOIP headset connector for the TX would be relatively simple. Many of us have already modified TX hotsync cables/connectors to include a mic. Next on my mod list is to add a 2.5 headset port to a dedicated connector. Add a Nokia headset, and you'd be in business.

However, I'm not in a rush at the moment. I have beta tested mobiVoIP and it isn't ready for prime time quite yet. I think it will be great when it has all the bugs worked out, but the "choppiness" (packet separation?) and delay make is impossible to use at this point. YMMV.

And legodude, what's that about Dmitry and the mic mod? Can you explain further about what rights he owns? His solution might be the "correct" way (soldering to the circuit board), but the easy way for an internal mod is to solder to the pins at the connector. He wouldn't claim the "rights" to that, would he?

It might not be the "mythical color HandEra", but I'm liking my TX anyway.

RE: Palm foresaw the success of VOIP...
Dr Opinion @ 3/6/2006 7:53:21 PM # Q
> "...[Palm should have sold] a 'do it yourself VOIP' alternative to contract/carrier/cellular-based Treos. [...] That kind of renegade, outside the box thinking could really have turned some heads..."

Palm needs to be friends with the carriers. Carriers fear VOIP. Ergo, no VOIP by Palm.

The latent VOIP capabilities of the T|C (heavily marketed at launch) actually gave Palm leverage with carriers to achieve what Palm actually wanted: smartphone dominance. :)

------
"People who like M$ products tend to be insecure crowd-following newbies lacking in experience and imagination."

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Old VOIP Screenshot

devildoc @ 3/6/2006 4:53:19 PM # Q
I might be wrong, but isn't that screen shot the one that VLI showed in 2003 for the Tungsten C? Did that ever see the light of day? Using the screen shot of vaporware doesn't bode well.

David

RE: Old VOIP Screenshot
Admin @ 3/6/2006 7:31:05 PM # Q
I just added a new screenshot, there are more at the page below, though it only works with ie, thus the delay

http://mobivoip.net/screenshots.mht

-Ryan

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Bluetooth Headset

noop @ 3/6/2006 10:02:19 PM # Q
I hope it will work with bluetooth headset. Like many people point out, the TX doesn't have mic, but if it works over bluetooth headset, it will be a killer application.

RE: Bluetooth Headset
AdamaDBrown @ 3/7/2006 12:36:22 AM # Q
The TX doesn't support a Bluetooth headset, as I recall.

RE: Bluetooth Headset
hkklife @ 3/7/2006 12:59:45 AM # Q
At minimum, it'd have to support BT 1.2 and A2DP protocols...neither are supported on the TX (depsite the erroneous sticker on the back on early production TX's)

No, Palm's slowly starting to lose their grip on Bluetooth. Despite being an early advocate, Palm's DONE nothing but cripple their BT implementations over the past 3.5 years...and now they are lagging all of the competition in supported profiles.

Did anyone ever confirm if the 700w is truly BT 1.2 capable or not?



Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

RE: Bluetooth Headset
noop @ 3/7/2006 1:28:07 AM # Q
I read there is some support of Bluetooth headset by softick. http://www.softick.com/bluetooth-audio/ They only support for A2DP, but I am sure they will give us Headset profile when VOIP is available.

RE: Bluetooth Headset
AdamaDBrown @ 3/7/2006 2:19:12 AM # Q
A2DP (headphones) can be implemented in software, the headset profile can't--at least, that's my understanding. So until/unless Palm offers a ROM update for the TX that includes headset support, it's a no go.

I'm pretty sure that the 700w is indeed Bluetooth 1.2.

RE: Bluetooth Headset
freakout @ 3/7/2006 3:29:28 AM # Q
"No, Palm's slowly starting to lose their grip on Bluetooth. Despite being an early advocate, Palm's DONE nothing but cripple their BT implementations over the past 3.5 years...and now they are lagging all of the competition in supported profiles."

It's a shame that Palm has become so beholden to the telcos. Double shame that the telcos are so afraid of VoIP. It's obviously the way of the future (even if I think reliability problems will hinder it for awhile), so why are they trying so hard to crush it?

The telcos need to reinvent themselves as wireless ISPs, IMO. Voice is only going to get cheaper and easier. Data is where it's at. As such, at least in Australia, they're going to have to rethink the ridiculously expensive mobile data plans they have now and go for something more affordable. Once they hit the right price point, the people will come.

Until then? People will ignore the benefits of 3G - 'cause it's far too expensive right now to enjoy them.

This sig is a placeholder till I come up with something good

RE: Bluetooth Headset
AdamaDBrown @ 3/7/2006 2:46:54 PM # Q
It's a shame that Palm has become so beholden to the telcos. Double shame that the telcos are so afraid of VoIP. It's obviously the way of the future (even if I think reliability problems will hinder it for awhile), so why are they trying so hard to crush it?

It's cheap. Everythings cheaper when you run it over IP, because you no longer need as much specialized hardware. Instead of seperate hardware systems for voice, mobile voice, data, TV, whatever, all you really need is an internet connection, and everything else can be done in software.

The catch is that that cheapness bites into the carriers. They can currently charge unreasonable sums of money for service because the cost of entry is so high that it prohibits competition. If everything is running over IP, though, then anybody with the right software can compete.

The obvious end result is the carrier as a service-agnostic internet connection, but they don't like that idea. They want to keep their established business model, because it's more profitable for them.

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Are you all bonkers?? Someone I trust HAS IT WORKING!!!!!

Tamog @ 3/7/2006 10:29:43 AM # Q
Hi People,
I can fully understand your desire to bicker about how the PalmOS is doomed and everything, as it distracts from other problems that may be nmore urgent;).

However, please take my personal word on this that the program WORKS! An author of mine HAS THE PROGRAM WORKIGN ON HIS BOX. It is not a matter of if, but rather a matter of when we will see this product.

This isnt Palm, this is a privately held company that needs to make buck to survive. They cannot afford to pull a Blackberry Connect stunt!

Best regards
Tam Hanna

Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com

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Nice but need interoperability with Skype etc...

gfunkmagic @ 3/8/2006 4:49:44 PM # Q
I'm glad mantragroup has gotten mobiviop to work on the Treo etc using lowly 1xrtt and gprs...what a feat! But what's the point if everyone else I want to call doesn't use mobivoip? I want interoperability with skype, googletalk etc b/c that is what everyone else uses... :(

--------------------
Gaurav

Current devices: Treo 650 + Axim X50v
Device graveyard: Palm Vx, Cassiopeia E100, LG Phenom HPC, Palm M515, Treo 300, Treo 600

Moderator, Treocentral

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